Issues
Child labour/Forced labour

Forced labour is any work or service performed against a person’s will under the threat of punishment. Found increasingly in the private economy in labour intensive and under-regulated sectors such as construction, agriculture, fisheries, domestic work, and mining as well as in prostitution, more than 12.3 million people are in forced labour today, and almost all countries are affected.

Child labour refers to work for children under the age of 18 that is mentally, physically, socially and/or morally dangerous or harmful and that interferes with their schooling. Forced labour and child labour are closely linked. They occur in the same geographical areas, the same industries and are mainly caused by poverty and discrimination, and up to half of all people in forced labour are children.

Qatar has been given until November to reform its kafala system of modern slavery and bring its labour laws into line with international standards, after a decision of the International Labour Organization’s Governing Body.

The US Department of Labour has issued a damning 143-page report documenting widespread and serious violations of labour rights in Honduras. The findings are in response to a complaint filed in 2012 by the AFL-CIO and 26 Honduran unions and NGOs under the Labour Chapter of the Central America Free Trade Agreement (CAFTA).

Crecencio Caceres is the coordinator of the Chaco Inter-Ethnic Council in Paraguay. He is calling on all the indigenous peoples of his country, with the support of national and international trade unions, to demand their rights and preserve their identities.